I know there are some serious geeks out there (read: addicts)

How are you brewing, what beans are you using, etc?

At work I'm using an aeropress and brewing by weight with a gram scale. I'm usually 17/18 grams of beans per 240-250 grams of water (bona vita kettle). I'm using a hario mini hand grinder and getting pretty great and consistent results.

This week I've got some beans from Handsome Coffee Roasters out of L.A., specifically the Finca Santa Gema: Plantio el Derrumbe. The origin is Nicaraguan. I like how Handsome has basically two lines of coffee, Comfort and Adventure. This is a comfort coffee, just a good solid mellow cup.

At home I'm doing chemex or aeropress. I like siphons but I don't want to screw with it and they're pricey for the amount I would use it.

Anyone using the V60 or the clever? I haven't had any luck with those the limited times i've gotten to use either.

I think I'm going to buy some beans from Madcap out of Grand Rapids next time.

So what are you digging?

there's a local dude around here that roasts his own yirgacheffe (sp?) and sells it for $12 a bag.

i'm no coffee conna-sewer but it's pretty freaking good.

I had some Madcap in Grand Rapids last week. Good stuff. They sell it at Barista Parlor here in Nashville, but it's like $23 for a 1lb bag which is fucking ludicrous.

I currently have in my office Ugly Mug's (Memphis) Saving Grace. However, I typically have brew from our most popular local fair trade roaster, Bongo Java, who coincidentally is in the same co-op as my hometown's Cafe Campesino. Because I don't have a bean grinder at the office, all the coffee I drink here is pre-ground. I have a Mr Coffee 4 cup machine to brew and drink out of the below mug:



At home we usually drink Bongo Java, but now have coffee from another local roaster, Drew's Brews. We have a bean grinder at home, so always fresh ground into an 8 cup Mr. Coffee.


more insight into Obner's coffee drinking habits can be found HERE

I have just a plain-old single-cup auto drip machine at work.
But it works just fine when I brew this in the morning:


It's cheap, yeah. But for a cheap, canned coffee, it is the fucking bomb.
Love it.

But when I want to geek out, I brew Intelligentsia Black Cat in my French Press.
Measurements? Bah! I eyeball it.

Or I'll make myself a nice, strong cup of Turkish coffee.

This stuff:

These days mostly using beans from local roasters like Coava, Heart, Ristretto, or Stetling in my chemex

Makes a mighty fine cup

That thread was a good read Stu. My apologies for not thinking to use the search function.

I think it's crazy how the specialty coffee scene has changed alot in the last few years.

http://www.amazon.com/Hario-MSS-1B-Mini ... +mini+mill

http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precisio ... gram+scale

http://www.amazon.com/Aerobie-AeroPress ... =aeropress

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss? ... =bona+vita

30 ish for a hand grinder that will give you close to the same results as a two hundred dollar grinder but you can take it with you camping or on tour. 25 for the scale. 45 for the kettle. 25 for an aeropress. More work, but a better cup of coffee and no moving parts to break, easy to clean (which might be the real reason mr. coffee's and the like truly taste shitty after a while).

Since that last thread, I broke down and bought an expensive burr grinder which really does improve the taste. I also stopped buying more beans than I can comfortably use in a week and now am much more careful about buying beans that were just roasted and I never store them in the freezer anymore.

I almost bought an aeropress at the same time as the burr grinder but realistically, it's just not that practical for me. I rarely have time to just kick back and drink coffee in the morning. It's usually one cup at home and one for the road and speed in brewing is important. Even on weekends, I'm usually in a hurry to get to tennis or the farmer's market.

I still buy Intelligensia beans mostly. I've eyed the Handsome Coffee Roasters though, just haven't gotten around to trying them. If memory serves, they were started by some former Intelligensia guys.

The bona vita kettle is great

we use this grinder: http://www.cuisinart.com/products/coffe ... -12bc.html

Billy, that aeropress is so fast to brew with. Seriously, 1:30.

And ridiculously easy to clean. If nothing else, it should be part of your apocalyptic survival kit.

If that AeroPress had a timer I could set for 5:00 AM, I'd be all in.

If you have a power inverter in your truck, you could have my setup on the road. Now I have to get a power inverter for road trips.

I do have one for sure.

I use the Bialetti 3 cup for the morning (and drink it as 1 cup of coffee with a little nonfat milk). I just pack the grounds and set it on the stove and stumble out and turn it on when my kid gets up.

I'd like to have more bean options, but I really am limited around here. There's one place that used to sell Intelligensia but I think it was too expensive to keep stocked. AKA I'm the only one who ever bought any.

my drip coffee maker just died last week. loogar - how do you like that Bialetti? any other suggestions nerds?

They all die eventually. I had a Cuisinart for several years that had the best damn thermal caraffe. Dead. Ive got a Kitchen Aid or a Hamilton Beach or something or another now. It's fine, the timer works.

I love it. I read somewhere that the best way to drink coffee (healthiest and most effective) is to drink like the EYE-talians do: an espresso in the morning and an espresso around 2 in the afternoon.

I've been doing that for a while now, and I like the taste better (all regular coffee is now too thin) and I get a better charge out of it.

Plus it's very easy to use and to clean, etc. The drip maker that I has was the kind with the grinder built in. The fucking grinder never worked properly and it doesn't really fit under our cabinets. Instead of sending it back in a timely manner or buying a new one, I just moved on to the Bialetti because we got the coffee maker last Christmas and the wife found out she was pregnant on New Year's Day, so I didn't need to make a whole pot anyway. Plus when the in laws come they don't get coffee now.

I put some coffee in my french press the other day, added water & let it sit in the sun for an hour.

Damn, that was some good, unbitter stuff. Almost sweet.

You can do coffee in a French press overnight in the fridge and get up in the morning and pour it in some steamed milk. or just drink it cold.

But I'm mostly down with the stovetop espresso. Easy to use, don't cost a fortune or anything, good strong cup of coffee. A friend just gave me a nice Bialetti Brikka that was in his closet unused for years. I'll probably start using it pretty soon as the moka pot I've got is getting up there in years.

Still mostly just using Bustelo in there, although occasionally I'll use some Cafe du Monde or some Illys if I wanna splurge.

This week

http://my.counterculturecoffee.com/coff ... reses.html

Very fruit forward and extremely satisfying.

http://www.handsomecoffee.com/coffee/sa ... etail.html

Was so good last week that I nearly bought it again. Billy, go there.

$11,111 coffee maker

http://www.blossomcoffee.com/one/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/0 ... 20529.html

Any thoughts on Dunkin' Donuts coffee? I mean the kind that's in the bag, already ground. It's only $6, is it any good?

I am most definitely not a fan of DD coffee but some people swear by it. I prefer Community for supermarket coffee.